Talent Squandered: Potions?

Re: Talent Squandered: Potions?

Postby Glenn » Thu Jul 18, 2013 2:33 am

"Ah, let me explain." She gave her speech and he had to back up a bit. "Healing, yes, would be conventional, and, let us see, ah, sleep, a sleep potion, something to forget the memories of the last day, something to make someone else do what you say, and then poisons. Those things, but, I had some idea you could not make those things, so I'm not interested in any of them." Useful potions. Reasonable ones. That's why Burnie had overlooked her. Giuseppe couldn't afford to overlook anyone right now.

"Could I see a demonstration, perhaps? I could procure a horse and you could give it wings, then?" Because why not start with the most dramatic. He seemed doubtful, certainly. "Would they be functional or just, ah, cosmetic? Are your potions permanent or do they have to be taken again and again? Why do potions work on some people and not others?" All reasonable questions and presumably she'd have some sort of answers for them.
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Re: Talent Squandered: Potions?

Postby breeevil » Thu Jul 18, 2013 2:55 am

"Oh, my." She sighs the words after he stops speaking, stops asking more questions, and her brows raise for a second. That was a whole lot of things to try and answer all at once and she laughs lightly as she nods and leans forward just a bit. "Okay. Uhm.." She clears her throat, a finger slipping into her bags but not unfastening it yet.

"Nothing I make will make anyone do what I say." She says that as she looks back at him, feeling it will have more impact if she says it to his face. Raia does not hurt people. Well.. she has messed up Endymion pretty badly a number of time but that was all on accident and she still didn't even know what had happened. "I don't make things like that." Her smile falls off her face even with her trying so hard to keep it there. But she moves on quickly.
"The wings are very, uh, complicated..?" That might be the right word. But it might be the wrong one. "And it took a long time to make. They work, if that's what you mean. The horses could fly after the wings grew. I don't think it will work, though, if you just picked a horse, no. The pirates knew their horses very well and they were pretty snuggly." Well.. one of them was snuggly. One shoulder comes up to shrug.

She couldn't remember all the questions without a bit of effort, searching back in her brain for the last minute. "I can show you.." She peeks into the bag, her tongue poking out the side of her mouth to hook over her lip. "If you have something broken?" She doubted he would, but nothing else could be used inside.
"Not much of what I do lasts forever. For all I know the horses wings have fallen off by now, because they're long gone off on their boat doing piratey things I think. I mean, I guess the one that makes babies is permanent, if you think about it. But.." She just shrugs again, peering around the room for a moment while she wiggles a tiny bottle out of her bag and tucks it into her palm, trying to think of what else she should be saying.

Why don't they always work.. that's what he said.

"Because you have to want them to."
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Re: Talent Squandered: Potions?

Postby Glenn » Thu Jul 18, 2013 3:02 am

She spoke. He listened. He drank from his glass, and as she continued to drink, he drank it dry. Then, at the very end, he smiled.

Belief.

It all came back to that in Myrken. It was a shame that Emory wasn't there. Surely she didn't know of this woman. She'd be fascinated. Extrapolate it back. What could a man like Dhrin do with her? Just imagine. If Giuseppe could currently do anything at all. It was that. His eyes whipped about for a moment, as his brain went back and forward, stories exploding in his mind. Then, he laughed. It was a warm thing, his southern accent shining through, but also a slightly deranged one. It was punctuated with a sharp crash. He had slammed the glass lightly upon the table, causing part of it to break off, to crack into itself. It was a minor break, but it was still a break nonetheless. "We now have something broken."

He would wave her on. "An element of belief is not uncommon in magic, Raia, not that I've seen. I could tell you stories about so-called holy magic that failed in the hand of a non-beliver. The power wasn't actually tied to any god or anything else, but it was tied to the belief of the user, an ingredient in the mix, let us say. That's not as rare as you might think." He would watch her, would wait, would see if she would find some way to fix the glass. "Tell me, Raia," his voice softening. "Do you have a potion that can protect one at all from fire?"
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Re: Talent Squandered: Potions?

Postby breeevil » Thu Jul 18, 2013 4:19 am

She watches him for a moment, confused. Why is he laughing at her? Her mouth opens to ask just that but then *crash*.
And Raia flinches, leaning back in her chair again, grey eyes wide and unblinking for a long moment while her jaw flaps like she might be trying to sputter something but she's.. not.

"That w.. that wasn't exactly what I.. what I meant but okay." She stutters out and nods shortly. And instead of focusing on him the blinks at the glass, twirling the vial in between her fingers as she lets the bag and the rest of it's contents slide off her lap and land next to her in the seat.

"I do it on purpose. I don't want someone to ever use one of these against someone else, you know? That would make them bad. And if I do that, if I let that happen, then I might as well start handing out poison. It would be less.. uh.. less messy." Another nod and a forced smile.. one that, for once, doesn't look very genuine.
Now she slides forward, eyes moving between Giuseppe and the broken glass as she sets the potion down next to it. A tiny vial with a creamy white liquid inside. Not like milk.. but more like some kind of white powder mixed with water and not mixed very well, but there is no settlement.

"I don't have something like that now, no." Nothing to protect from fire. Potions to keep people warm, yes, but that did not prevent them from going up in flames. She points at the vial, staring at it, "You have to uhm.. You're going to have to pour it on the glass and hold it." her hands come in front of her, cupped together like she is holding something. "And let it fix itself."
She sits back again, then, and crosses her legs, sighing. Almost looking relieved but she's not. If anyone else said to her -do you have something for this- and she didn't have it, she would try and make it. Raia was always looking for new ideas, for new things to do and try and laugh about. But it was never important people. Important to her, maybe, but not like this man. This man stressed her out a bit. It would be unwise, though, wouldn't it? To not make the same offer to him?

"But I could make one."
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Re: Talent Squandered: Potions?

Postby Glenn » Thu Jul 18, 2013 4:55 am

It was best for everyone, really. He needed as much of the wine as possible in as short a period of time, thanks to the way this conversation was going. She needed something that was broken. The glass, well, now the glass had a distinctive need to be fixed. It worked out for everyone, so long as she could do what she said she could, and really, why shouldn't she? This was a Myrken that had just been ravaged by a storyteller and no one knew that better than Giuseppe. This was the Myrken of Rhaena Olwak and the Myrken of Catch. The magic never worked like it was supposed to. It wasn't a place of wizards and wonders, but a completely askew and scattered potion-maker who could work sideways miracles? Why not?

The Man in White held the glass up with a nod, before adding. "I wouldn't ask you to do anything that would hurt anyone." Protection from fire wasn't that, was it?" He took the vial as instructed and poured it on the glass, holding it rather far away from him, just in case, but he was holding it nonetheless, and more than that, he was respecting the possibilities of the magic, even if not the efficiency of it.

As he watched, she spoke and he nodded. "Normally, I would offer you something in return. Money, a position or a title, security of some sort. I have two requests for you. Making that potion and supplying it to me regularly is one. The second is that if anyone asks you to make anything new, you let me know. I realize these are not small things. If you could have anything in the world, for yourself, as we cannot make others do what we want; that would be bad, no better than poison, anything in the world for yourself then, yes? What would it be?"
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Re: Talent Squandered: Potions?

Postby breeevil » Thu Jul 18, 2013 5:49 am

Raia knew nothing of the story teller. She knew of the story she'd been told. She knew it was really good timing that right after that she tried to make a potion to call butterflies and instead wound up with a love potion that somehow went missing.
She knew next to nothing about the Big Witch, Rhaena Olwak.
She knew Catch was a nice man.
Myrken was just too far out for someone as stupid as her to understand.

"Thank you for that." She hopes he means it, that he'll never try and trick into doing something bad. She watches the glass as it starts, giggling just a bit at how he holds it away from himself.

There is no fuzzy or feeling for him, no crazy vibrations coming from the potion. It's like smoke, moving around inside the cup, expanding, filling up the space where a piece had been broken away.. thick rolls of the powdery air only touching it's hand if it has to, to form to the shape the cup once held.
Then there is a little sound, like someone smacking their lips and the smoke is gone.. mixing and blending into the air around it to show off what is now fixed. Leaving, in his hand, an in tact glass, just as it was a few seconds before, the piece that had been chipped off still held inside.

She had listened as he spoke, as she watched the potion work. "It's different every time I see it." She says offhandedly, not totally ready to reply to him because she didn't know how. It's an odd request.. something to protect him from fire. She got requests to make people immune to magic, amazingly strong or able to hear from a distance. To not allow someone to be burned was just.. different. Would he be using it to save kittens from burning barns? Will he run into a house on fire to look for lost babies?

"Before I answer that, may I ask you a question? Or.. or maybe two?"
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Re: Talent Squandered: Potions?

Postby Glenn » Thu Jul 18, 2013 7:24 am

It is with some mild surprise that Giuseppe watches the glass comes back together. Part of him tries to work his head around the magic involved, but he's simply no expert on this sort of thing. It's interesting that the broken piece stays broken. One had to wonder if she affected reality itself, not unlike how the storyteller did. There were theories about her, about how some people had amazing abilities to affect reality but it was just too big for the human mind to wrap around, so they had to access it in very oblique ways. Creating potions out of a book with extremely strict rules could well be one of them. No matter. What was important was practical application.

"This is impressive." he finally admitted with only a little reluctance. This was a duel-edged sword. She was immediately more useful to him than she was a moment before. She was also far more dangerous. "The horse? Perhaps that would have been more so. Still, ask away."
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Re: Talent Squandered: Potions?

Postby breeevil » Thu Jul 18, 2013 7:41 am

"I have better. If you would like to take a walk I can show you more. Some of them need room.. or to be poured on the ground. Or to not be bothered by things like walls." She had things that were even better than putting wings on an animal, at least in her opinion. Raia likes it when people are impressed. It usually means she is not going to get stabbed. However, the potion maker has no concept of being useful, or not useful, to anyone. she thinks in terms of neat and not neat. "Thank you. That one took some work." A lot of work.. finding things that were used to mend, and enough different things to make something that could fix anything. At least, anything she had found broken thus far.

"Is it going to be used for protection? For you or.. or for someone else?" Because it would require more.. more effort and more thought if it wasn't just for someone who went out to put out fires set in the woods by stupid hunters and other random people, or to keep someone's fingertips from burning while they learn how to pinch out a candle. "..And uhm.. is it actually optional?" Couldn't blame her for asking, could he?
There is an attempt at looking small for that second question, her shoulders lifting as her head bows down, ankles cross and tuck under her seat and she looks at her hands in her lap, fingers wringing together. She would not feel right telling someone when someone else was asking her for something. Was it anyone's business that she was making a potion for Cherny to help keep his dog warm in the winter? Or that she had made something to help Zilliah find his home?
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Re: Talent Squandered: Potions?

Postby Glenn » Fri Jul 19, 2013 4:00 am

"I believe you. The one is fine." He had rather wanted to take one of those horses out for a ride. What was the point of all of this insane vitality if you weren't about to use it for something just as insane. There was still no bella, still no sign of affection. There was, however, some patience so long as she stayed focus. "I believe that you are what you say you are. That was the only question. You have answered it, yes?"

"Everything's optional here in Myrken, Raia. It is a free land. I cannot make you do what you don't want to." That was increasingly debatable of course, but then she was here talking to him, not to Rhaena. That was something, wasn't it? "I'm asking for you to help and willing to offer you quite a bit for it, depending on what you want. Lately, there has been fires set throughout our town, yes? Perhaps you have heard of them. More and more. It is my job to find out who sets them before more people get hurt. If I had this potion, if I had it in my system all of the time, I could rush to the scene and look for clues before it is too late, you see? This way I can help people." There was enough truth in that for him to say it clearly and cleanly, not that lying to her wouldn't have been simplicity itself, of course. Still, this had real meat to it.
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Re: Talent Squandered: Potions?

Postby breeevil » Sat Jul 20, 2013 9:00 am

Raia nods. She woudl have corrected him about the horse, really. They were very unpleasant after their wings sprouted, even bit someone, if she was remembering right.
"That I make potions? Uhm.. yes." Was that his question? If it was she did, in factm answer it. But she was too frazzled to really reflect right this minute.
She listens to him, really listens, and thinks.
Raia doesn't want for things. What she needs to make her potions are items she can find or trade other things for. She never sold potions.
She was also not someone to tattle on other people, which is really what she felt he was asking her to do. She was not an Inquisitor or a Councilperson or anything like that. Keeping track of what she gives to who was only for her own reference so she could make sure anything anyone needed was available. But Giuseppe just wants to help.. just wants to help this twisted little town.

"It will take me time to make it and to test it.. and try again." She looks at the no longer broken glass again as she takes her bag back into her hands, digging around inside of it without paying much attention. "I'm still working on planning some things with Endymion that I can't totally abandon.. I just need some time, you know? And.. I don't want anything from you, Mister Giuseppe. I don't like to ask for things back because it doesn't take much for me to actually do this. Maybe just keep in mind that I'm -helpful-, not -harmful-. But I wouldn't mind a suggestion, of sorts, from you.. a bit of.." Of.. what is the word she needs here? Advice? She wanted help getting Gloria to remember her and she was fully prepared to ask this man where she shoudl start looking. But she has a feeling of who he will tell her to go to. And she does not want to go to the Olwak woman.
"You know.. nevermind." She clears her throat and shakes her head, smiling again before she keeps talking, a couple of smaller vials set on the table in front of her, tiny.. glass. With a see-through blue water inside. "These will help you Get Away. So if you do happen to feel like rushing into a burning building to save some kittens or fancy curtains or a baby or something you can throw this on the ground and it will pull you away from where you are. Just make sure you can.. well try and be able to see a door, okay?"
Then her bag is closed again, the strap looped around her wrist.

"I will do my best, also, uhm.. to come to you with any new requests from anyone. Really people don't ask me for many things because they think I'm crazy or that I'm going to wind up giving them a tail or something." Which, who could blame them, right? "I'm working on somethign to keep puppy feet warm in the winter for a boy at the inn right now, if that matters to you. And I helped a friend find his home a few weeks back. Those are the uh.. the newest things." In case the past was important.
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Re: Talent Squandered: Potions?

Postby Glenn » Sat Jul 20, 2013 11:27 am

"My concern, Raia, is simple. There are others that might want to use your talents, even indirectly, to hurt others. I know more of what is going on around here than you do, yes?" It was his job and it was very close to the least of her hobbies. Otherwise, she might not be in this room now. "Something that seems helpful might be made to hurt. For instance, i might be trying to catch and destroy some sort of..." here a pause. Burnie was good at this. Thanks to what had been done to him, though, Giuseppe was as well. "fire pixie, you see? It might be an innocent creature that I want to use to create a thousand fire arrows to destroy Heath," which would be an improvement to Heath but that was neither here nor there. "Through your potion, I could do so. Now, that's not what I want it for; I have told you what I wanted it for, yes?" And she could ask about the fires and learn about them. He lied about nothing. "I am a good person when it comes to knowing what might be gong on that you do not. That is my concern, not a leash, not anything else."

Potions to pull him away. How oblique. How strange. How Raia. He nodded his thanks. "Please work hard on the fire ones, and know that if things get worse and not better, I may ask for something else from you, but only to help. Good deeds should be rewarded Raia. Think if there isn't anything you want after all, yes?"
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Re: Talent Squandered: Potions?

Postby breeevil » Tue Jul 23, 2013 9:54 am

"I hope so." She says of his knowing more about things happening here, and she says that with a smile and a nod. He knew more for many reason.. Raia did not like to be in the business of everyone. Raia did not work for the inquisitory. Raia hadn't been in Myrken for long enough to know things, even if she did want to.

She looks amused for a moment as he speaks. This would not be the first time someone said those words to her. Maybe not the same exact words, but something close. 'You cannot control what others do with those potions,' or 'You cannot guarantee they wont be used for wonky things.' And those things were true, she knew that. However, using a potion to keep you from burning in a fire to catch a faerie all for the point of sending flaming arrows into another place seemed like quite the evil-fantasy. Really, Guiseppe was smart enough to just use a torch for something like--wait. Not the point. In the end, she just nods again.

"I worry for privacy, is all." A one shouldered shrug.

She does think, though. And it looks like she is thinking hard. "I have a friend who uhm.." she looks around like someone might be hearing. "I have a friend who is forgetting me. Has forgotten me. And I'm afraid it's my fault. But not because of.." She jabs a finger in the air at where the vials were, "Not because of potions. But because she tried to help me with something. And it's.. well it's a big mess." She takes a deep breath, eyes falling back to her lap while she shifts in her seat. "I wonder if you might know where I could find some help that's.. that's *not*.." Her gaze flicks up to him for a second while she says that word. Not. Then back to her lap. ".. Rhaena Olwak." She didn't want to go to that woman. She wouldn't. Raia would sooner rather just fill out some pages in the diary and hope for the best when it came to Gloria's remembering her than take advice or help from Rhaena Olwak.
But Gods forbid the potion maker should know why the Big Witch is just that.

"That's really all I want. I know that it's a weird thing because it's not like you can just hand me some memories, right?" She laughs lightly, forced. Raia can totally do that! She just has to take the memories first. And that is not what she needs to do with Gloria. "But if anyone knows who can help with.. something like that.. I would guess it's you. Right now, at least." Maybe if her company changed so would her opinion on who could help.
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Re: Talent Squandered: Potions?

Postby Glenn » Sat Jul 27, 2013 2:08 am

Perhaps it was not the best sort of metaphor, no, but he rather thought she'd like something fanciful. Still, despite it all, she did get the point, enough of it at least.

Then she asks her boon. "We solve problems here, Raia. That is what we do, yes? There are many ways to solve a problem and not all of them involve pulling upon our Lady's skirts. What we need, though, is information,the full amount. We need to know what happened, how, and why. Then we can begin to do what we do. For privacy's sake I would only call upon the few researchers here I would think I would need. You do your part and we will work on ours, yes?" He liked a nice, neat deal. It made everything far more professional and balanced. It meant there was no leverage on either side, or at least none on him.
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Re: Talent Squandered: Potions?

Postby breeevil » Wed Jul 31, 2013 5:11 am

Most women would want pretty things, especially ones planning little weddings. Especially the ones planning little weddings who have no idea how to actually do such a thing... maybe she should have asked for a book about weddings or a personal shopper.
But she has Zilliah for that, wherever he is.

Information, he says. And she realizes how silly she was to think this would be something that could be fixed by anyone but Gloria, Endymion and her. -Please don't tell anyone- is what Gloria had said, and remembering those words brings a dreamy kind of look over Raia's face and her head tilts to the side. Being stupid was easy.
"I don't really know if I know anything that would help anyone help us. If I knew things I would.. I would be able to fix it in my own way, you know?" She shrugs a bit, keeping her eyes wide and her head to the side. She knows what happened, she does not know how, and she does know why. But she also know she cannot tell anyone about any of it.
"Never mind." She says again, waving a hand in front of her. Her shoulders turn and she scoots to the edge of her seat, ready to run and flail all the way home, feeling like she's made more than one mistake here. "Mister Giuseppe I'll get working on that right away for you, unless there is something else you need?" Someone protecting other people, using the potion for just that, was more than enough 'payment' for her when it really comes down to it. Her problems are going to have to be worked out by her and her beloved.
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Re: Talent Squandered: Potions?

Postby Glenn » Fri Aug 02, 2013 3:51 am

So then. She didn't want help. It all sounded somewhere between deranged and suspicious. He wasn't entirely sure what to make of it but did start to regret not having the uncomfortable chair for a situation like this. It had rather run its course. "Well, then, let us put it like this. If you try to solve it and cannot, you come back here and we will help, yes? In the meantime, I await your potion. Thank you for your time. If there's nothing else, then?" He rose. She had offered to help so he'd be polite enough to see her to the door of his office at least.
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